Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve is an interesting place. Its very designation is unique amongst the 423 official Park Service units. With such uniqueness comes the question “what is different about it?”. How does it differ from Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve? If you are expecting answers here, sorry. I don’t have them!! I can speculate that the “historic” part refers to the manmade structures and the stories of the Timucuan people, while the “ecological” concerns maintaining the natural areas as is. Why this could not be accomplished with a more common designation, I’m not sure.

The preserve is named for the Timucuan people, who inhabited the area long before the French, Spanish, and French. It preserves the lowland marshes and forests around the St Johns River, as well as a few human marks on the land. Fort Caroline lies along the south bank of the river and is covered in another posting as it is recognized as a separate National Monument.

North of the river lies Fort George Island, on which are Kingsley Plantation and the Ribault Club (an old exclusive country club), both with small Visitor’s Centers. Also on the north side is a small parking lot at the end of a long road from the west. From here, several hiking trails branch out into the preserve.

After visiting Fort Caroline in the morning, I drove around to Fort George Island and Kingsley Plantation. Many structures still remain, though during my visit, access to the inside of the main house was closed. The Park Service made good use of technology here and offers a guided walking tour via one’s cell phone. Points are marked with numbers that correspond to pages online. As you reach the spot, you can read a description of what the building or area was used for, and listen to a description of what life was like for someone working there, read in the first person. It was quite well done and informative.

Zephaniah Kingsley was, of course, a slave owner. However, he used a work method more common in Spanish Florida than in British (and later American) areas. The “task” system gave each slave a task list for the day. When complete, the slave was on his own time. This varied from the system most of us are familiar with, where slaves simply worked sun up to sun down every day.

The task method allowed slaves to actually offer skills to others and be paid either in money or goods. Make no mistake, these were still slaves, but they had the opportunity to make their lives a bit better under the task system.

Zephaniah had married one of his slaves, Anna, before moving to the island in 1814. At that time, it was still part of Spain, and freed blacks had several rights and protections. His wife was active in managing the plantation and had acquired land of her own (and slaves of her own, something not entirely uncommon). When the United States acquired Florida from Spain, much of the Spanish policies concerning freed slaves and their rights were swept away. The family moved to Haiti, where slavery was outlawed, establishing a plantation there. Anna eventually returned to live out her days in post-Civil War Jacksonville.

Jump forward 100 years to 1928. The Ribault Club (named for one of the leaders of the failed French colony at Fort Caroline) was built as an exclusive wintertime resort. It was highly successful – for a very short time. Enter the Great Depression of the 1930s and membership declined. Attempts were made to convert the entire island into a resort community but fortunately, they were stifled by local residents wanting to preserve the natural setting. Today the club is owned by the park service, though I did not stop in.

Much of the rest of the island is in a natural state though there are a few private homes. A mostly dirt road forms a loop starting from the southern access of SR A1A, up the eastern side past the club, turning west across the island to the Plantation, then south back to SR A1A. Following the same method as the walking tour of the plantation, a driving tour is available, again with numbered signs along the road corresponding to information on a cell phone app. I took the drive around the island, learning about the different flora and fauna alive on the island.

I would have liked to head to the western side of the preserve to hike some of the trails, but time, and my own back and leg issues, made that impossible. Since this location is not far from my home base, I hope to come back sometime and walk those trails.

Steve